How much will 14 new acute care beds help?
According to the article ‘Vernon Jubilee Hospital overflowing with patients’ in The Morning Star Nov. 9, 2012, “At one point, the number of admitted patients reached 193, although there are only 148 funded acute care beds. According to Nancy Serwo, acute area director, ‘It’s about our highest (census). We hit it a few times during the course of a year. The average census is about 163 patients a day.'”
A column, Funding falls short, on February 13, 2013 by Richard Rolke, states, “In December 2011, doctors stated the number of patients daily has been between 160 and 179, or eight to 20 per cent over-capacity. On Feb. 8, a day after (health minister) MacDiarmid’s visit, there were 194 patients, a record-breaker.”
As a result of shortage of beds only five of the seven nice, new, expensive operating rooms are being used.
With the occupancy rate of 160 or higher most days now, will a bed count of 162 mean that the other two operating rooms will be opened in two years when these beds are actually completed?
If there is no increase in the number of operating rooms, people on the elective surgery wait list that are presently having to wait for two years or longer in pain, suffering, and depression will have to continue to wait two years or longer into the future.
I have no reason to think that the demand for beds and surgeries is going to decrease with an increasing population and a higher percentage of seniors.
The community has lobbied for years to get more acute care beds to meet the need in the community, first by getting two shelled-in floors in the new tower (original tower plan was not to increase the overall number of beds) and then to complete the two floors with new acute care beds.
With the $81 million spent for the tower and $29.6 million spent to complete the two shelled-in floors with new beds, I fear that any more than the increase of 14 beds will be a distant dream.
The wait lists will continue to lengthen, leaving people to wait in pain or die while waiting for treatment.
I challenge the community to put pressure on the Interior Health Authority so we will have enough beds for the present, if not the future.
Sharon Rauhala
Lumby
